FATE OF VAN NUYS SEX PARTIES IN COURT'S HANDS.

Byline: Holly Edwards Staff Writer

VAN NUYS - On a quiet, tree-lined residential street, a 50-year-old self-described swinger has outraged neighbors who want city officials to put a halt to his all-night sex parties.

Despite a burgeoning battle with the city and his neighbors, John Lynch has vowed to continue holding the weekend sex parties at his single-story house, calling them an expression of personal freedom.

But prosecutors with the City Attorney's Office say Lynch is operating an adult business because he charges a $40 entrance fee to the parties. As a result, they have charged him with a misdemeanor count of operating a sexual encounters business in a residential zone.

Lynch's trial is scheduled to begin today in Van Nuys Superior Court.

``If there were no payments being made and no complaints from neighbors, we wouldn't have gotten this case and no one would care what was going on inside that house,'' said Deputy City Attorney Mike Pizzuti.

Lynch maintains the parties are free and open only to invited guests.

He also said he has been hosting the parties every Friday and Saturday night for six years, and has never had a problem until recently, when several new residents moved into the neighborhood.

Lynch insisted the parties are simply a form a recreation, and he has designed his house accordingly. The modest stucco home features some 40 beds, along with three hot tubs, bubble- and fog-making machines, laser lights, a dance floor complete with dance pole, a large screen for adult movies, and a coffee table covered with condoms and personal lubricants.

``The city is trying to use the zoning laws to impose their morality on me,'' he said. ``One of the main ideas behind the swingers' lifestyle is to use your own brain to make your own personal choices, and don't abdicate everything to the government.''

The case is one of a handful of disputes that have erupted in the San Fernando Valley in recent years between adult clubs and neighboring homes and businesses.

The emotionally charged squabbles pit those who say sexual expression is a constitutionally protected form of free speech, and those who are offended by alternative sexual lifestyles in their neighborhoods.

Citywide, there are about 150 licensed adult businesses, which include bookstores, dance clubs, arcades and sexual encounter clubs, officials said.

The City Attorney's Office forced the closure last year of two swingers' clubs in residential areas in Van Nuys and the West Valley. In Tarzana, the Frisky Kitty nude dance club has been embroiled in a years-long legal battle with the city over its application for a zoning variance.

A previous Los Angeles City Council denied the application, and a series of conflicting court rulings ensued, putting it back in the city's hands. A new public hearing on the issue is pending.

Roger Diamond, the attorney for the Frisky Kitty and for Lynch, argued that the city is required to provide alternate locations for clubs to operate if a zoning variance is denied.

That's what happened in Simi Valley, where another lengthy court battle resulted in the Simi City Council setting aside a location in an industrial area where a proposed nude-dance club could set up shop.

``Most of these cases aren't legal issues, they're moral issues,'' Diamond said. ``Sex exists, but some people have a psychological problem and are bothered by that. The government is wasting money by responding to these small but vocal minorities.''

Lynch's neighbors say they don't care what Lynch does in his free time, but they do not believe his sex parties belong in a residential area.

``There are a lot of families and little kids on this street,'' said neighbor Suzanne Brewer. ``These parties are a nuisance and a danger and I want them out of my neighborhood.''

Lynch said he has tried to placate his neighbors by asking his guests to park blocks away and by building walls around his back yard to buffer the noise.

``All I want is to be left alone,'' he said. ``Even if I lose, I ain't stopping because they're wrong and I'm right.''

Prosecutors contend that Lynch created a business called The Velvet Swing, located near Van Nuys Airport in an area zoned for adult businesses, to serve as a front for the swingers' club.

Lynch charges a $40 membership fee, which he said is for enrollment in an organization set up to defend the public's right to free speech and free expression. Prosecutors contend it simply buys the participants entrance to Lynch's sex parties.

The trial is complicated by the arrest of the lead investigator on unrelated charges. Sgt. Kurt Blodgett, a 10-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, was arrested in June on suspicion of trying to steal electronics equipment from a store in Anaheim. Blodgett remains on administrative leave pending the resolution of the charges against him, officials said.

Diamond argued in a recent court appearance that Blodgett entered Lynch's house without a warrant on several occasions, and wrongfully seized Lynch's cell phone and records.

Judge Gregg Marcus said he would consider continuing the trial until Blodgett could appear in court to testify.

``It's the search for the truth that's important here, not winning or losing,'' Marcus said.